A new study found that fewer young women have been infected with human papillomavirus (HPV) thanks to a vaccine introduced a decade ago. The federal study, published Monday in Pediatrics, found reduced rates of the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer among girls and women ages 14 to 24. For women in their early twenties, which is considered a group with lower vaccination rates, the most dangerous strains of HPV have fallen by more than a third, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report. Health officials began recommending HPV vaccination for girls and young women in 2006 and for young men in 2011. Despite the effectiveness of the vaccination, immunization rates are only at about 40 percent of girls and 20 percent of boys between the ages of 13 and 17.
